A new report has shown that removing carbon dioxide from the air will be essential if global climate targets must be met.
The report which was done by the Energy Transitions Commission showed that Carbon offset markets will need to be tidied up and managed properly, as offsets will form a critical route to limiting global heating to 1.5C in line with scientific warnings.
The report had it that switching to renewable energy alone will not produce enough carbon savings as other methods, such as tree planting and carbon capture and storage, will also be critical.
According to Lord Adair Turner, chairman of the Energy Transitions Commission, carbon offsets and carbon markets were viewed with suspicion as they had been subject to mismanagement and abuse, but that well-functioning markets were possible.
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“We would encourage the tidying up of what has been an area with loose standards and loose claims,” Turner said. “It would be very unfortunate to take the past problems of the carbon markets and use that to say we should not use them at all. This is potentially a very large flow of money. So, we should try to make sure that financial flow, which is valuable, is provided.”
Titled Mind the Gap: How Carbon Dioxide Removals Must Complement Deep Decarbonisation to Keep 1.5°C Alive, the Energy Transitions Commission report examined ways of removing carbon from the air after it is emitted, in contrast to renewable energy which removes the need to emit carbon dioxide in the first place.
The report showed that technologies to remove carbon dioxide, such as carbon capture and storage which requires liquefying the gas and pumping it into underground caverns, and direct air capture, using chemicals to suck carbon from the air, are still expensive.
In his reaction, Turner warned that these technologies should not be seen as a “get out of jail free card”, which companies and others could rely on to avoid having to switch to renewable energy or finding other ways of cutting their greenhouse gas emissions.
He said “Carbon removal could not be enough on its own but would be needed to supplement green energy”, adding that an alternative to using these technologies is to grow trees, which absorb carbon dioxide from the air as they grow, and which scientists have said must form a key part of any strategy to tackle the climate crisis.
The ETC report further found out that more than $200bn (£183bn) a year in total funding would be needed to remove enough carbon to stay within 1.5C, which over the next three decades would amount to about 0.25% of global GDP.
Story was adapted from the guardian.
